Solicitors have this week welcomed consultation from the Legal Services Commission (LSC) on getting rid of the much-maligned audit system in criminal and civil legal aid by bringing in greater use of peer review.

The LSC has been piloting peer review since 2002 but is now proposing a national roll-out following research by the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies. The institute's proposed model would ultimately lead to law firms assessing themselves.


Legal Aid Practitioners Group director Richard Miller said peer review was a great improvement over contract compliance auditing. 'There are a number of issues we feel need to be considered further, particularly the process for challenging an unfavourable result. But we recognise that this is a genuine attempt by the commission to measure the actual quality of the work firms do.'


Law Society chief executive Janet Paraskeva said it was looking at the consultation but added: 'We support an open, transparent and objective peer review system as a tool in helping to identify poor performance with a view to raising standards.'